Locked
by OretaTsubasaDe
Summary: Ray has feelings for a certain indigo haired girl and only truly realizes it when she’s about to be out of his life. RayMariam.
1. Locked Inside

Disclaimer: Well, I used to own a Beyblade, but I lost it…I don't own the show though…because if I did, lots of things would be changed. (Gets out list) See? For example, Brooklyn would end up with Julia. Need I go on?

This is…well, a Rei/Mariam one-shot and Maxie shall not get in the way! (Glares at Max), though I'll try to use _all_ their dub names. I don't usually write in the present tense, unless it's in someone's POV, but I'm not even sure of myself anymore. I don't know why, but I like doing things more in the guy's POV, even though I'm not one, but I think it proves a challenge…or something like that.

Pairings: Some hints at Tyson/Hilary and a kind of one-sided Ray/Mariam, but Mariam's emotions aren't explained so you don't know, do you? Hah! I think there's a puny bit of Kai/Ray and a punier bit of Max/Ray…but whatever.

I know they're OOC, but hey, I tried…One of the inspirations for this fic was the fact that I had to make an AMV about Ray before I really got into writing this…or at least get into his character.

Summary: Ray has feelings for a certain indigo haired girl and only truly realizes it when she's about to be out of his life. RayMariam.

And this ficcie shall go to suicidalbeyblader, all right then? Good. The title is um... well, you know that girl Tifa from FF VII, right? It's sorta like that.

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"Ay-ya!" the hazel-haired girl exclaims, bringing down one of Tyson's kendo sticks near the sleeping bag he was just residing in.

He peers an eye open, "Huh? Ah!" the navy-haired boy rolls over to avoid it, and ends up rolling into a wall instead. He brings his hand to rub his head, "Hilary, what was that for!" Tyson gets up, holding up a fist at the girl.

Hilary puts the weapon to stand beside her, like a person boasting a flag of their country, "Well, I can't wake you up any other way, can I?" she says smugly, closing her eyes.

Tyson growls, "Well, why didn't you wake any of the others like that?"

The brunette opens her eyes enough to be ruby slits and she jerks a thumb over her shoulder, where Max, Ray, Kai and Kenny are sitting at a table, smiling happily and eating the food that Tyson's grandfather made for them, with the usual exception of Kai who's just closing his eyes, taking light sips from the teacup in front of him. Tyson's eyes go wide and his jaw drops quite low in his shock as he slumps his shoulders.

"Uh…uh…." He stutters.

Max gives him a very sunny smile, "Morning, Tyson!" he waves cheekily, unknowingly taunting the poor hazel-eyed boy.

Tyson straightens himself in an awkward way, then rolling up his sleeves, his feet apart and legs spread, knees bent slightly, with angry huffs escaping his nostrils, "Save some food for me!" he yells, stomping his feet.

Hilary brings the kendo stick over, slamming it on Tyson's head, making him resume his previous slumped position, "Tyson, can you _not_ think about food for at least _once_ in your life?"

"If I said 'no' the last ten times you asked me that, what makes you think I'll say 'yes' _this_ time?" Tyson says dryly.

A piece of crumpled paper is thrown at Tyson's head, which bounces off the top and lands behind him, "Read it…" Hilary grumbles, retreating over to the table with the others.

Tyson mutters angry threats under his breath, squatting down to pick up the thrown paper. He straightens up with a stretch and a yawn, the paper in his left hand. He wipes his sleepy eyes, and then opens the paper, his dark hazel eyes moving along the neatly printed words.

The others watch him, excluding Hilary, studying his facial expressions. Tyson confuses them inadvertently dawning an excited expression, then a concerned one and finally a saddened one. They all exchange looks with each other.

"What's it say, Tyson?" Kenny asks confusedly.

Tyson holds the paper to face them, "Well, you remember Mister X…er, _Ozuma_, right?" he asks, receiving a nod from everyone and a grunt from Kai, "He says that since their mission is over, they leave today and yeah…" he says, not wanting to elaborate such a simple thing.

Kai brings his teacup to his lips again, "Well, I suppose they would. They have no further reason to stay, and even if they wanted to, a warehouse couldn't suffice their needs."

"They could've made pretty good allies…" Max smiles, looking around at everyone.

Hilary and Kenny sigh, "I guess…" they say together.

"Oh c'mon, we've gotta at least see them out of here!" Tyson grins. Then he realized that it sounded like he wanted to rush them out of the country, "Um, not like I _want_ them to leave…" he covers up, flushing slightly.

"Hm…" Hilary gives him a dull look. He waves his hands in front of himself, signaling that nothing's wrong.

Ray sends his gaze to his left, staring out the window.

"Ray?" Max asks, making the brunet jump a bit, "Are you okay? You're rather quiet…" he notes out, looking worriedly at his friend.

The addressed boy nods, forcing a smile to his lips, "I'm fine, Max," he lies, standing up, "I just…need to take a walk right now." And before anyone can object, Ray walks out of the room.

"Hm? What's wrong with Ray?" the brunette looks around at the boys who are either staring at the door where Ray exited, or just sipping tea, in Kai's case.

"If we knew, wouldn't we be going after him?" Tyson glares at the girl who returns with her own death glare, "Just leave him to sort out his own business." Hilary growls back at him.

Kai scoffs, "Well, as much as I'd like to stay here and watch you guys fight, and at the risk of missing desert, I think I've lost my appetite." He says monotonously, walking out.

"But he only had two biscuits and three cups of tea…" Hilary says softly.

Tyson glances at her, "And you're keeping track _because_?" Hilary raises her fists angrily, which is met with Tyson's same reaction.

Max's forehead lands in his palm, only propped up by his elbow, knowing that another mindless fight would ensue.

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Ray wanders around for a while, trying to sort out his thoughts until he passes by a bridge. Deciding to go over to it, he leans his elbows on the railing, staring down below. He was fine this morning, so why now did he suddenly feel so depressed? He hadn't felt this bad since he lost Drigger to Dunga and the other Saint Shields a while back.

The sounds of approaching footsteps enter his ears and he whips around, finding Kai walking over to him, "Aren't you the jumpy one…" the slate-haired boy mutters.

"Kai!" Ray exclaims, startled, "I-I…thought you were someone else…" he turns back to the bridge.

Kai comes up to the brunet's left, "Someone else like…Mariam?" he guesses calmly.

Ray glances over at him and his dark, laughing crimson eyes, "M-Mariam?" he stutters, hiding the slight blush that wanted to show, "What's she have to do with me?" he asks in a low tone, his eyes wandering away to the ground below the bridge.

"You like her, don't you?" he taunts. The wave Kai's voice is giving off brings an unusual feeling to Ray's head, as well as his chest. Kai smirks, watching his friend shift uneasily whose hand is fidgeting with the collar of his white shirt, giving a slight gulp.

Ray reluctantly shakes his head, "N-No, I…don't…" his hand shakily returns to the railing of the bridge, not even wanting to see the look on Kai's face.

Kai just scoffs, "The look on your face is betraying you, Ray." He points out with a smirk.

Ray couldn't even imagine how weird he must've looked right now, his mind flooded with thoughts of what he was supposed to do now, until Kai let out a chuckle which sent a dark shiver down the neko-jin's spine. At a loss for words, Ray merely looked up at him with confusion.

"Hn," is the only response Ray is met with for his silence.

"H-How'd you…" the Chinese blader murmurs, looking away yet again, fearing that all he could do now is stutter his words out in hopes that they'd be understood.

Kai raises a brow, crossing his arms, "Just because you don't say anything about it, doesn't mean I don't know. I know everything about everyone, Ray, get used to it." Kai failed to mention how he saw how Ray had his eye on her for quite a while, with Kai almost pitying the brunet at some points. He also saw that Ray would have the hardest time tearing his eyes away from her, then for some reason, would look back at her in under a couple of seconds. For that whole while, Kai felt the need to encourage Ray to do something, but then he figured it was none of his business and he'd let Ray handle it on his own.

Ray's golden eyes remain on the ground over the edge of the bridge, quivering lightly, knowing that's why he was so depressed when Tyson explained what the note contained and what it meant. She'd be out of his life.

"Kai!" Ray yells out suddenly, realizing this little detail now. Kai remains unshaken, merely nodding a head at the worried brunet, "She'll be…"

"I would've thought you'd realize that sooner, Ray…" the Russian interrupts, "I suppose you want to tell her,"

Ray nods, running back to the dojo, with Kai following.

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"Ray, you're back!" Max exclaims happily, his arms thrown into the air, "Did you find out what was bothering you?"

Ray nods hastily, "When're they leaving?" at that point, Max's arms drop back to his sides with an innocently confused look on his face.

Tyson blinks, "In a few hours…why?"

"I…" Ray starts, but something in his mouth prevents him from breathing a word about it to them, "I want to be there when we see them off." His eyes wander over to his left.

Tyson runs over to Ray and wraps an arm around his shoulder, "See, _Ray_ wants to!" he grins at the others who all sigh.

The next few hours weren't exactly a blur, but Ray found them extremely pointless, and at the same time, he thought them to have gone by much faster than he thought. He glanced around at everyone, mainly sleeping on Tyson's dojo floor, that is – if you weren't Kai, leaning against the wall. Then a small feeling made its way into Ray's stomach, making him feel like he had to earn her trust before he could tell her he liked her. That was shit and Ray knew it and yet, he still felt like it wasn't right.

"All right, let's go!" Ray's voice rose, startling all but Tyson who Hilary had to hit with another kendo stick in order to awaken him.

And so far, Ray found the walk to the airport even more uneventful, his head swarming with so many different emotions. His black clad hands were clenched in his supposed anticipation. This comes into Kai's attention and he lets off a smirk.

"There they are!" Tyson exclaims loudly, grabbing Ray's neck in one arm, pointing to the door of the airport with is other hand. And there the group finds the red, orange and gray clad foursome, standing around, looking at the flight schedule. Ray nods unnervingly, forcing out a chuckle. A very weak chuckle. The navy-haired boy releases Ray and runs over to them, the others given no choice but to follow.

"Mister X!" Tyson says loudly, making all four of them turn to him. Ozuma gasps for a second before his mouth shut again, forming a smirk and a small grunt of approval. As usual, Dunga is standing to Ozuma's left with Joseph to Ozuma's right and Mariam to his right. Like Ozuma, Joseph and Dunga smirks and grunts slightly. Ray notices that Mariam remained casual, expecting some kind of reaction to their presence and he frowns a bit, which also comes into Kai's attention.

Ozuma raises a brow at him, "Please don't tell me you forgot my name already…" his smirk drops a bit as he folds his firm arms over his well muscled chest.

Tyson raises a thumb in return, "Nope, it just brings back memories," he lets off a large grin.

"Please don't…" Ozuma's eyes lower dully.

Dunga goes over and slams a hand to Ray's back, "So no hard feelings for taking Drigger, right?"

The force pressed into the brunet's back makes him slump forward a bit, allowing a sigh to flow from his mouth, "Uh, sure…" he replies as Dunga pats him on the back some more with a large grin playing on his face…but the so-called 'pats' are rather hard. It felt more like Dunga was slapping Ray's back senseless.

"Dunga, if you keep that up, you might end up killing him," Ray looks up, seeing Mariam smirking tauntingly at Dunga, one hand on her hip, the other in a lecturing position, "and with your temper, you just might…" she finishes.

"Ooh!" Dunga growls at her, stomping a foot on the floor angrily. Mariam laughs at him, making Ray smile a bit, but at the same time, he feels a bit disconsolate that he wasn't the one who made her laugh, feeling a light twinge of jealousy. Dunga huffs, walking away.

Mariam looks over at Ray, smiling a bit, "How's your back?"

Ray's eyes widen slightly and a light blush falls on his cheeks as he straightens up, "Um, fine, thanks." He says softly, yelling at himself for blushing in front of her, because everyone knew it pretty well that he didn't really _do_ blushing.

She flips a hand down at him, "Eh, it's fun bothering him. Let me know if he bothers you again." Ray felt his heart skip a beat when she gave him a light smile.

"Right…" Ray nods, then looks at her eyes, "But, I don't…" he starts, blinking innocently at her.

"You don't like being saved by a girl or something?" Mariam assumes, glaring at him.

Ray's head tilts back a bit, eyes widen even more and a gasp escapes him, "Wha?" the tint of scarlet returns to his cheeks, staring at her harmlessly in return, "Um, no, I…I didn't say that. I was…going to say that…I don't want to bother you because of Dunga." He gulps again, giving a weak smile and a small chuckle to match.

"Oh…" Mariam just raises a delicate violet brow at him. Where did he get off caring about what she felt? "Okay, then…"

Ray catches Kai standing a few good feet behind Mariam, urging the brunet to say something to her non-verbally, but nodding a head at her with a slightly concerned look on his face. Ray only gives him a frown in response. Ray opens his mouth to say something to her, but gets cut off by a happy cerulean blonde.

"Hey Mariam, one last go?" Max smiles, holding up Draciel. Ray clenches a fist at Max's interruption, cursing himself for being shy like he is.

"Oh no, I'm not falling for that again," Mariam gives him a look as if to say 'nice try' and Ray lightens up a bit. Max only chuckles lightly, taking a grip on her wristband, pulling her in one direction.

"C'mon, one battle won't kill you," the American insists, leaving Ray standing there, watching them go.

Kai sighs in shame at Ray's lack of courage, but then again, Kai didn't think he'd be any better himself. The slate haired boy goes over, placing a hand on Ray's shoulder, "You, Ray, are terrible at this,"

Ray looks over, seeing Tyson and Hilary talking to Ozuma who doesn't seem to be all that pleased, then looking a bit further, Ray sees Joseph and Dunga watching Max and Mariam battle. He smiles a bit, walking over to said battle.

Mariam smirks at Ray's presence, "Wanna go two on two again?" she offers.

"Oh no, I'm on to you!" Max points an accusing finger at Mariam, then at Joseph.

"Che, fine, Ray's my partner then," Joseph smirks, preparing himself.

"What? And leave me with this accusing creature?" Mariam asks loudly, nodding her head towards Max. Max blows her a raspberry.

Joseph rolls his eyes, "Fine, I'll go with Max…" he sighs, going over beside the American.

Mariam gleams in her victory, going beside Ray, who hasn't said a word.

"Doesn't Ray get a say in this?" Max demands. Joseph and Mariam shoot him dull glares, "Well, you guys are bickering over who gets to be with him…"

'_Gets to be with him…'_ repeats in Ray's head, his mind is obviously jumping to conclusions that he _wished_ would happen. "Ray?"

Ray looks around, seeing Joseph, Dunga, Mariam and Max with dull glares, "Yeah?" he choked out, trying to cover the fact that he wasn't listening.

"So, who'd you rather be with, me or puny?" Mariam jerks a finger at her brother who rolls his eyes and shakes his head in shame.

Ray's never ending blush returns, "I'll go with Mariam…" he sighs, his mind getting another weird idea with his last statement.

Joseph shrugs, "Suit yourself," he says nonchalantly, "I suppose you just want to lose…"

Mariam raises a brow, "And what's _that_ supposed to mean?"

"It means he picked you on his team because he knows he'll lose if he does." Joseph replies, smirking with closed eyes.

"He picked me because he knows I'm a good blader and that I'm not short like you!" Mariam retorts, "Right, Ray?"

Ray is once again knocked out of his thoughts, "Right…" he says uneasily, dawning a flush which Max notices and raises a brow at.

"See?" Mariam smiles in her victory and Joseph just sighs in shame.

The whole battle got blocked out of Ray's head. All he could remember was getting _slightly_ upset when both Max and Joseph slammed into Mariam's blade at the same time. Just _slightly_… But he didn't really care about the battle anyways. Nothing really happened since they refrained themselves from using their bit-beasts. Now everyone was just sitting around and waiting for their plane to arrive.

Max was sitting beside Mariam, further explaining the bond between one and one's bit-beast. Over to their left, Tyson, Kenny and Hilary were bothering Ozuma, rambling about when he was the mysterious blader, and then Mister X. Kai was across them, talking to Dunga about finding him a decent opponent. Ray was to Kai's left, across from Max and Mariam, not even listening to Joseph who was going on about being underestimated due to size.

His warm golden eyes were gazing at the violet haired girl. He knew that she was part of the reason why he lost Drigger a while back, but he couldn't seem to pull himself from her. He then decided to pull his eyes away from her, biting back the urge to look at her again, and looked at Joseph instead, trying to concentrate on the boy's words. It wasn't working. He gave up self-denying the actuality that he liked her long ago. He didn't care that she conspired to take Drigger from him (and actually did); he liked her, he knew it, but he also knew that she probably didn't like him in return. The temptation bit him hard, cancelling out the urge he built up to prevent himself, and he looked back at her, in hopes of memorizing her face, finding himself addicted as he was.

Kai's eyes had started wandering away from Dunga's boasting while ago, but as his head turns to see Ray, he smirks, knowing that again, and to no surprise, the Chinese blader is staring at the indigo haired Mariam. Kai's soft chuckle escapes his lips, shaking his head in slight pity for his friend, for he feels that Ray seemed hopeless at this point, so he smiles forlornly at Ray's expense. Now he really pitied Ray, but still, he'd stick around anyways, and he himself didn't know why.

As Max was telling her of the bit-beast bond, Mariam was nodding, faking her interest in the current subject. She refused to roll her eyes at him, although it _was_ tempting. But Max had stuck around long enough to knock some sense into her. _Might as well pay him back some way…_ Mariam smiles a tad. When Max closes his eyes, bringing one hand in a lecturing position, his head tilted toward the ceiling, Mariam takes that as her chance to find out why she felt like she was being watched. Her bright jade eyes glance over, seeing a pair of gold eyes staring right at her. Ray Kon. She lifts a brow at him and could swear that he was blushing as he gave her small, timid smile and looked away from her. _That was weird…_ Mariam notes. She glances back at Max who was still in the position she last saw him in. She looks behind her, seeing only the male security guard, therefore cancelling out her thought that Ray was looking at someone behind her.

Ozuma attempts backing away from the trio who are questioning him for so long. Then Tyson gives off a grin, Hilary claps her hands happily and Kenny draws up a file on his laptop, each action sending Ozuma down further the hole of confusion._ Shoot me now…_ he wishes, looking at the ceiling. The three look at Kenny's computer, in which the screen is facing away from Ozuma, so he doesn't even care. Even if it _was_ facing him, he wouldn't really be interested in watching. All this technology wasn't exactly something Ozuma was a fan of, let alone did he see people so into it back in the homeland. He stole a glance at the other Bladebreakers, but Ray was the one who caught Ozuma's eye, since he found the neko-jin staring at his female teammate and he didn't look like he was going to be looking away any time soon. But since Ozuma was at an angle, he suspects that Ray's looking at something behind her or something near her.

Kai smirks, seeing everyone, in turn, look at Ray with a questionable look on their face, raise a brow, shrug, then look away. All but Mariam, that is. And Kai's beginning to get the feeling that about _everyone_ knows about Ray's little infatuation, at least by now. _Took them long enough_, the sour thought enters his mind, in shame of how slow they were.

Joseph looks up at Ray, seeing his gaze fixed upon the olive haired boy's sister. Joseph lifts a brow and nudges Ray in the ribs, "Hey, what're you doing?" he asks suspiciously, raising a dark green brow.

Ray's eyes widen, having been caught in the act that had quickly become a habit for him, "Doing…?" he asks, trying to avoid the question by acting duller. He rips his gaze off Mariam, yet again, looking down at her brother with a questionable gleam in his eyes that Joseph took a quick note of, reminding himself to report that to Ozuma when they got back home, "What'm I doing?" his voice floods with false question in which Joseph is clever enough to see through.

"You were staring at my sister…" Joseph points out bluntly, dipping his head down slightly, continuing to glare at the Chinese blader, but his dark emerald orbs tilting upward this time instead of straight on like normal or like others would.

Ray let out a few pause words, "Uhh…uh…um…" if they were really considered pause words, (1) but he blinks at Joseph, pondering on how to respond to that, "I was?" he asks indirectly, this question full of the same false wonder used only a mere few seconds ago.

"Never mind…" Joseph lulls his eyes away from the accused, rolling the forest green orbs. Ray lets out a small sigh of his relief, having escaped the accusation in which would reveal everything. And surely he wouldn't trust her brother with such a bit of information.

Ozuma glances up from his three…interrogators to see the people on their flight getting up, then looks over at the gate to see that it was their flight. He stands up, "Yeah, we're going now; plane's here." He backs away from, with a sudden developed fear. Tyson, Hilary and Kenny get up too. The others see and do the same. Each begin to shake hands, starting with their respective bladers.

Ray reluctantly shakes Joseph's hand, being intimidated by Joseph's glare that means to say 'Do something to my sister and die' which causes Ray to raise a brow in confusion, like the kid is crazy, "Uh, come back and challenge me any time, kid…" Ray forces a grin.

Joseph keeps his glare, "Oh, don't worry, I will…" he assures him, releasing Ray's hand. He then wanders off to Max. Ray sighs and shakes Dunga's hand next, deciding on talking to Mariam last.

Dunga gives off a grin, "No hard feelings and I'll be back to take Drigger another day…" Ray's expression drops at that, but Dunga gives another wide grin, "I'm kidding…aren't I?" he pulls Ray into a headlock, jerking a hand in his hair, "Right, _buddy_?"

Ray strains a grunt, "Uh-ugh…" he nods weakly, the weirdest straining sounds coming out of his throat.

"Dunga, let him go," Mariam's voice lectures from where she's standing with her hand clasping Tyson's in a friendly handshake. Dunga grumbles again and releases Ray. Ray starts trying to gather the air he recently was cut off from, pounding a fist to his chest to be able to breathe normally again. He then turns lightly scarlet at Mariam who gives him a small smile.

Ozuma smirks, walking over to the neko-jin, "I saw that," he says as he holds out his hand.

Ray takes it, "Saw what?" the two exchange a handshake, while Ray's pretending to be confused at Ozuma's smirk.

"Heh, don't think I don't know what I'm talking about, Kon." He lets go of Ray's hand, walking away. Ray just stares confusedly at the departing form that is Ozuma, until someone touches his shoulder from behind, making him jump in whip around to face them.

"Um, Ray?" Mariam asks, noticing that his face seems to be getting paler. She raises an eyebrow at him again, which gets another blush out of him that she blinks inquiringly at, "You okay?"

At his loss for words, _any_ words at all, he nods, holding up his shaking hand to her which she takes, his blush growing just a bit. Ray frowns inwardly. A long while ago, Kai had dubbed that Ray had a soft spot for her, now seems like a very noticeable soft spot for her. A smile dawns her face, and Ray was finding himself liking the smile a lot.

"Bye." He mutters softly, hopeful that she at least heard him.

Mariam nods, the smile still gracing her features. She let go of his hand. Ray frowned to himself again. Mariam turned to walk away but she was stopped, "Mariam!" Ray calls her back, though not knowing what possessed him to do that.

"Yeah?" she turns back to him.

Ray felt his throat dry and he tried moving his mouth, with no words coming out, only mere stutters, "I…" is all he manages to get out.

"Mariam!" Ozuma yells from behind her, halfway to the gate.

Mariam rolls her eyes, turning to the leader, "Yeah, hold on!" she yells back, and then she looks back at Ray, "Hm?"

"I…" (2) He dips his head low so she can't see most of his face. The most he manages to say is, "I'll…miss…you?" his voice rises a bit at the end, the statement he made sounding more like a guess.

"Thanks," Mariam says, confused, then softly she adds, "I guess…" she turns, following Ozuma and the others through the gate.

Ray lifts his head in time to see her gone, but utters out, "I love you," as if she were still there, though disappointed in himself that he didn't while she was still there. With the exception of Kai and Ray, the gang yell their farewells toward the Saint Shield's backs and Ozuma merely raises a fist in response. The yelling only stops when they're out of eyesight.

"C'mon, let's go see the plane take off!" Hilary grabs Tyson's wrist, pulling him to the windows of which they can view the plane outside. The rest follow while Kai is forced to push Ray over to the windows.

(3) After so long, the plane begins to start up and after another few minutes, it begins to take off. The group waves at the window, in hopes that they'd be seen, but Kai is leaning against a wall, arms folded while Ray just stares at the widow, searching for the violet hair he wouldn't be able to stare at any longer. He can barely find it and he turns away from the window, going over to the wall that spread the windows into smaller fragments. As the plane takes off, Ray slams a fist to the wall and lets out a pained cry.

All eyes turn to Ray who has now lowered his head, his back slumping over.

"Ray…" Tyson, Hilary and Max mutter at the same time. Kenny and Kai just give him a concerned look.

Quietly, he whispers to himself, "I love her…" he lifts his head. He wasn't going to lose her!

End.

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(1) – In Japanese, pause words are like "eto" and some others are translated into words like uh, um and all those things we say when we can't think of anything else to say. But you knew that, right?

(2) – What? He's a shy boy! At least that's what I've read by his profiles… (I do have some episodes, but they're in _Italian_. I don't speak Italian! All I understand are the more common phrases.)

(3) – These things take forever! So making me write the whole waiting period doesn't seem to do much justice, ne?

Um, did this suck as much I thought it did? It did? Is a sequel an option here? No? Okay… Reviews are good!

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**Here's a little bit of the sequel** (or second part) that I wrote (if you guys _want_ one, that is...I really don't mind) :

_Mariam smiles lightly, handing the cloth to him, "You um…" she stalls, taking a light bite into her lower lip, a nervous smile replacing her light one. She blinks a couple of times, her radiant jade eyes being shielded every few seconds until Mariam regains herself. She flipped the left side of her bangs and smiled again at him._

"_What?" Ray asks, clutching the red cloth in his hand, refusing to put it on while she was talking. Though, without the headband, his dark bangs are evidently going to fall in his face. And they do while Ray brushes the right side out of his eyes to look at her and is shocked when he sees Mariam's hand brushing the left side of his bangs away from his golden orbs, drawing out his never ending blush. _

"_You don't look half bad…" she gives a light smile again, emerald orbs gleaming at him. Ray felt his face heat up even more, eyes widened and nonetheless, he's still smiling back at her as she withdraws her hand. After a while, Ray ties the headband back on his forehead and stares at her. _

Haha, no one gets it, right?

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Okay, so just tell me how this is and how many improvements I need to make. Sigh...so many...


	2. Breaking the Pieces

Well, I've decided to write a second part to 'Locked' which was a Ray/Mariam, so this follows that, so you might wanna read that first. If you saw the preview at the end of Locked, that sequence is in here and you'll understand it now. It could be considered a sequel or a second chapter; I don't know; that's up to you…

Recap: Ray has certain feelings for Mariam and everyone but her notices. When she and the rest of the Saint Shield members leave, he fails to mention it to her, pushing her out of his life without this vital bit of information.

In This: Kai and Tyson convince (more like force) Ray to go after her, despite Max's objections. When he arrives there, Joseph and Ozuma demand that Ray prove himself before being with Mariam. He's doing well – until some old friends come along and ruin everything.

Disclaimer: Must we go over this again? Beyblade is not mine and belongs to way richer people than me.

---------- means scene change

This is still going in the present tense; otherwise the two fics might not make sense. And guess what? I had to make a Kai/Mariam vid just to get into this one, yes and it was actually kinda affectionate so I'm happy (eyes go all sparkly). But this isn't going to be a Kai/Mariam fic… I just needed to get into Ray's jealousy part. That's how I work; I'm weird like that.

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The brunet had lifted his head from the slump it was just in. Everyone stares at him; Tyson, Kenny and Hilary stare in concern, Max stares in shock and Kai…he's staring in disgust.

"I let her go…" Ray's words crumble from his mouth in a low whisper. To Kai, he sounded a bit desperate. To the others, he sounded desolate. Kai's arms were still folded, his head dipped in though along with his closed eyes. He knew Ray was too shy to admit it and Kai accepted that. He just didn't know why Ray had to mourn about it. In all the times Kai watched Ray watching Mariam, the brunet had always seemed calm, like loving from afar, as it were. Kai also noticed that whenever any of the others, besides Hilary and Joseph, went up to her, Ray would have this flash of anger in his eyes, then he would just calm down under a few seconds.

"Ray…" Max takes a cautious step toward the Chinese blader, only to flinch at Ray's low tone of 'Don't'. Kai knew that Ray's feelings were somewhat delicate, remembering the time he was quite fond of Salima, and then when she battled him, he was devastated. And really, Ray knew that Mariam wasn't his, but he still kept a protective manner over her, as with the angry flash and occasional fist clenching.

"Ray, man, are you…?" like Max, Tyson also tries to approach Ray, but also backed off when Ray told him not to. Kai rolls his eyes and scoffs to himself. He was _always_ the one to knock sense back into Ray when he was down, even if Kai had to raise his voice and get incredibly firm, he got Ray back on his feet.

The Russian lowers his arms back to his sides, looking at Ray at his slump, as he called it. He storms in front of Ray, despite everyone warning him not to. Kai's teeth clench together angrily, grabbing the collar of Ray's shirt with one hand, "You stupid asshole! What kind of person are you? Okay, so you didn't tell her you liked her, but moping around isn't going to solve anything, is it? So unless you don't go after her, you are going to find yourself in training hell." And at this point, Kai had clasped both hands on Ray's collar and started shaking him, as if to knock some sense into him that way.

Ray just stars down at him, golden orbs quivering in fear. Kai continues, "If these feelings are so important to you, why are you just sulking about? _You _have _feelings for her_ so don't go about it so half-assed!"

The others gape at him, Tyson's back slumps over and eyes widened, jaw basically dropped. _That's the most Kai's said in a week…and the loudest voice Kai's used outside the dish…wow. I'll be sure to congratulate him and get him something nice later… aw, crap, I'm out of cash. Meh, I'll just 'borrow' some from Hil later,_ Tyson blinks in shock, _well, it's also the most he cursed…oh wait. I bet he does that all the time under his breath… or in his head…_ "Kai…" Tyson manages to say.

Kai glances at Tyson for a second before returning his glare to Ray. Closing his eyes in disgust, Kai throws Ray back down and starts walking away, his hands returning into his pockets. Ray clears his throat, tugging at his collar, trying to get oxygen back into his system.

Max steps up to Ray, "Whoa, what was that all about?" and the blond is met with golden orbs that want nothing but to pierce into Max enough to scare him. Ray looks over, seeing the others with that question written all over their faces.

The brunet breathes in a sigh, "I don't really think it matters now…" he turns away, staring out the window where he saw Mariam vanish from his life. They had only left a few minutes ago and Ray already felt desperate. So Kai was right; he _was_ moping around.

Tyson steps up next, "Well, chyeah," he jerked a thumb over his shoulder, the other hand touching Ray's in a sort of brotherly fashion, "if it gets Kai to say more than he has in a week, of _course_ it matters…"

Ray looks at him. If it were any other time, Ray would be laughing at that, but it wasn't any other time and Ray wasn't laughing. Ray's stomach was gaining this feeling that he shouldn't tell them and his insides churned, upset that he could no longer stare at Mariam, but at times, he almost felt guilty for spying on her. _Almost_…

"It's…nothing you need to be concerned about," Ray's reply was simple, as he didn't give them a chance to respond. He headed back to the dojo with the others following them. They remained silent the whole walk back, Ray leading them. Unlike the walk going to the airport, Ray didn't find this totally pointless…as all he could see was an image of a certain girl. A certain jade-eyed, indigo-haired girl.

_Dark violet hair, wrapped in a ponytail with a beige hair tie _(which Ray had thought to be red the first time they met)_ which rooted the rest of her long violet hair that draped down to her waist, flowing as her head turned to her right to face him. Golden earrings swayed with the movement, dangling near the long shoulder-length bangs that framed her face elegantly with the light reflecting on the slight curls of her hair. Her crimson headband contrasting the pale ivory gentleness that was her skin. Crystalline emerald orbs sparkled with light tints of cyan against the chic lights that bathed her and the light surroundings she was in. Soft meadows surrounded her, the pale blue of the sky behind her proving no comparison to her strands. Frail clouds drift behind her and she lets off a small smile. _(1)

"_Ray?"_

_He hadn't realized it before but he was standing with her in the meadow, which would explain why she turned to face him. Ray sighs to himself; he knew that his mind had gotten the wrong ideas when Max had said 'who gets to be with him' and when he himself said 'I'll go with Mariam'…he just didn't know that this would happen. _

"_Um…yeah?" Ray frowns inwardly, even in his mind, he can't talk to her. He just prayed that he didn't walk into anything on his way back while being in his daydream. _

_Mariam squats down and Ray's eyes follows her movements, staring at where her eyes were supposed to be – if he could see past all the light sapphire hair that shrouded her face when she lowered her head. Her gentle hand scoops against the grass, drawing out something scarlet and she stands straight again, presenting the object to Ray, "You dropped your headband…"_

_Ray's eyes widen slightly, his cheek drawing out a shade of red and reflected in her gem eyes, he saw that he really didn't have his headband on. Upset that she spoke to him for nothing more than part of his attire, he bit back a frown and a glare, "Thanks…Mariam." Ray smiles; he hadn't said her name since she left and he missed the way it sounded from his tongue. Really, he was quite pleased and felt content saying it again. _

_Great…even in his daydreams, nothing more than barely-friendly actions can happen between them. _

_Mariam smiles lightly, handing the cloth to him, "You um…" she stalls, taking a light bite into her lower lip, a nervous smile replacing her light one. She blinks a couple of times, her radiant jade eyes being shielded every few seconds until Mariam regains herself. She flipped the left side of her bangs _(2)_ and smiled again at him._

"_What?" Ray asks, clutching the red cloth in his hand, refusing to put it on while she was talking. Though, without the headband, his dark bangs are evidently going to fall in his face. And they do while Ray brushes the right side out of his eyes to look at her and is shocked when he sees Mariam's hand brushing the left side of his bangs away from his golden orbs, drawing out his never ending blush. _

"_You don't look half bad…" she gives a light smile again, emerald orbs gleaming at him. Ray felt his face heat up even more, eyes widened and nonetheless, he's still smiling back at her as she withdraws her hand. After a while, Ray ties the headband back on his forehead and stares at her. _

"_You mean that's it? No crude comment? No insult? No 'but'?" Ray asks, knowing the last question sounded a bit weird. He lifted a dark brow, knowing that Mariam had a sharpest tongue on her team, always ready with a retort, always quick to talk back, which resulted in her being the worst person to start an argument with. _

_Mariam shoots him a curious look as she places her hands on her hips, "You mean you want me to insult you?" she asks in return as her attempt at being nice obviously not working. _

_Ray waves his hands in front of him to defend himself, "No, no, it's just that…"_

"RAY! Duuuuuude! Wake up!" Tyson starts waving a hand in his face as Ray was coming back to his senses. He was sitting on the dojo floor. He saw the blue clad hand waving in front him then felt it slap his forehead (3). Ray rolls his eyes and rubs his forehead. Tyson turns to grin at everyone else, "See? Told ya it worked!"

Hilary puts her hands on her hips in an angry manner, "We never said it wouldn't work, Tyson, we said it was crude and moronic." She said with a look to match her dull tone.

Ray looks over, seeing Kai leaning against the wall, still in a similar position as he was when they were at the airport; the only difference was that his left leg was crossed over his right. Tyson had just finished a short spat with Hilary and was facing Ray again, "Okay, you are going to tell us what's going on!" he glares down at Ray, and then he jerks a thumb over his shoulder, pointing at Kai, "Kai told us that it was about Mariam. The rest he said was personal and he wouldn't feel right about saying it without your knowing."

The Russian shifted about nervously, giving another 'Hn' and turning away. Ray blinks, secretly thanking Kai. He looks back at Tyson who's glaring right in his face, "So…what's this about you and Mariam?"

Ray closes his eyes and turns his head away from them which Tyson reads, "Oh, you like her…don't you?" Tyson spoke the last part softly, knowing that he shouldn't play around with this as it would make Ray feel worse than he already was and Tyson didn't think that Kai could take that seeing as he got so pissed when Ray was moping just a _little bit_. But that didn't mean that he couldn't make fun of Kenny's crush on Emily! Tyson grinned evilly at the thought.

But Tyson saw why Kai got so mad before; Ray had messed things up with Salima before, letting her go to Kane and all that. Kai was just trying to make sure Ray didn't get hurt like that again. In a way, it was quite thoughtful, and in another…the thought of Kai shaking Ray by the collar didn't seem very good, but it was because he cared. Then again, Kai has his own ways of showing people he cared about them. Tyson supposed that shaking people by the collar, yelling in their faces and calling them assholes was one of them, although he hoped that Kai wouldn't have to do that to him.

When Ray didn't respond, Tyson knew that he was right, "Yeah, I can see why Kai got mad at you now…" Tyson replies, sitting down in front of Ray. Ray looks back at him and though he already knew it was because Kai was just trying to make sure that Ray was all right, he nodded, "But I'd think that by now, you'd have more confidence than this."

Ray shoots him a confused look and Tyson continues, "Well, I mean, you don't exactly have the best history when it comes to girls…" Ray gives him another look as if to say 'And I suppose you do?' but Tyson ignored it, "Because, buddy, that thing with Salima didn't exactly go well. Kane! I mean sure, Kane and I are friends, but you let her go with Kane?" he asks with a faint chuckle and sigh at the end.

Ray snarls at Tyson. The navy-haired boy knew he crossed a big line when he mentioned Salima going off with Kane, but it was the only way to knock some sense into Ray. Ya gotta be cruel to be kind! (4) "And you don't even _wanna_ know about Mariah!" Tyson laughs, also letting out a sigh, bringing a hand to his forehead, the other to his hip.

The mention of the White Tiger girl's name confuses Ray, "What's Mariah got to do with this? Despite her name sounding like Mariam's? I never…" his voice trailed in his confusion as Ray stood up.

That's when Tyson started to laugh nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, "Oh? Mariah? Um…" Tyson was debating with himself whether to tell him that the pink-haired girl _still_ had feelings for him. Very noticeable feelings… (5)

"Tyson! Mariah trusted you with that secret and you're just going to _tell_ him?" Hilary scolds as Tyson stands up to meet her glare.

"It's about him! Ray has a right to know!" Tyson yells back, "What would _you_ do if someone liked you and you weren't told because everyone was trying to keep it a secret from you?" Kai lifts a brow at this, smirking at Tyson and how close he was to admitting. Truthfully, Kai didn't give a damn about Tyson and Hilary's feelings because they went about it like immature children and Kai wasn't a big fan of watching over children. Kenny went about his almost like Ray; quite shy and always blushing around the girl, which seemed all right, to Kai. But Kai wasn't exactly an expert on the matter.

"So what? Mariah would kill you if you told him!" the brunette screeches back.

"And Ray would kill you! Not that I'd care…" Tyson grins.

"You are just a…!"

Ray sighs, "Forget it!" he cuts in, already tired of the useless bickering, "…I'll go after Mariam if it'll shut you guys up."

Eyes widen at him, "Ray…"

He turns to glare at them, "What? You've never made this much a deal about Kenny's liking Emily or Tyson's liking Hilary, so you I don't know why you have to make a big deal about me. I'd rather just go after Mariam than stay here and listen to you guys rag on me when you ignore the other feelings of the people here!"

There was an awkward silence, especially on Kenny and Tyson's behalf, as Ray sneers at them. He shakes his head in shame of them and storms out of the room. For one of the only times, Kai breaks the silence, "He's right, you know…"

----------

Ray sighs, muttering things under his breath, staring over the side of the bridge again. Sure, he let her go, but bring up Salima was just cruel. And what the hell did Mariah have to do with anything?

"Is this where you go to think about her, Ray?" Kai asks, walking up to him. Ray turns to look at him and when he does, he lets off a small scowl and looks away again, "So, you pretend to be upset at us, and then you go here to think about her?" Kai's arms fold over his chest, looking at Ray.

Ray scoffs lightly, a soft chuckle hanging in his voice, "I don't expect you to understand…" he spoke in a low tone, the chuckle still hanging.

Kai nods; he knew Ray was right on that, "I don't…but I know moping isn't going to help. For all you know, Mariam could be with some guy back in their homeland…" the Russian blader says with a gentleness to his voice, although his face was emotionless and blank, his voice giving off what he was really trying to say. Sure, Kai knew that mentioning Salima around Ray was a bad issue to bring up, and he refrained from doing so, knowing that it'd strike another nerve in the brunet's system, so Kai tried relating to it.

"I'm pretty sure that Dunga and Ozuma won't do anything to her, but there could be way more people for her to go after in … wherever they came from." Kai hints, still knowing that what he was saying made sense, but he didn't know for sure if there really were other guys in their homeland, "And by sitting here, Ray, you're increasing your chances of losing her to some other guy…"

Ray felt his anger subsiding as Kai's words sink into his mind. His golden orbs quiver and his eyes narrow, glaring his hardest at the trees a few feet under the bridge. Kai felt his words take affect on Ray, "You say that you like her so much, why are you going to risk losing her like this, then?"

Kai was actually making sense. It's not that he didn't make sense at other times, but when Kai did, it usually related to kicking people's ass in the dish… this was different, "But why is everyone's main focus me? Why doesn't everyone spend time trying to get Kenny to talk to Emily or to get Tyson and Hilary to talk without yelling their heads off?"

"Because they make it so obvious; you _know_ what's going on and it's no fun…" Kai chuckles a slight bit, "You don't say a word about it; no one knows what feelings are going through your systems… So finding out that you like someone is something that everyone finds as so interesting since they didn't know about it before. Their only goal after that is to talk for you since they know you won't. Either that, or they'll convince you to say something." (6)

Ray nods, looking at Kai who gives off a light smirk, "Then what's this about Mariah?" his gaze goes back to the bridge, "Besides that she's on my former team, she's my old best friend's sister, and that her name sounds like Mariam's?"

Kai's hands find their way into his pockets, "You mean you don't know yet?" he asks, his face still emotionless, but his voice has question. In his mind, Kai can't understand why Ray didn't notice an infatuation on him so great, but then again, Mariam didn't notice Ray's infatuation on her. Really, Kai felt that he was going to end up in the middle of some weird polygon. Ray shakes his head, wholly confused, blinking innocently up at Kai like an inquisitive child, "Didn't Mariah tell you that she likes you?"

Ray thought about it for a while, and then he shakes his head, "Not really…I remember her saying something like that at the last tournament but I thought it was some kind of joke…"

"You were happy…" Kai states obviously.

Ray shakes his head for the third time, "It isn't the same…" he breathes out a soft sigh, "It feels different around Mariam… I love her; you know that. With Mariah…it feels…kinda sisterly."

Kai nods, "All right, I guess I can understand that. But I'm still saying... you have to go after her because I'm not going to sit around here and watch you mope about her. If I see you mope again and I find that you didn't go after her, trust me, you _will_ be in training hell."

Ray laughs lightly, "All right, but only because I'm scared of you right now…"

"Heh, damn straight, you'd better be." Kai smirks and he began to walk away. Last second, he turns back to Ray, "Remember what I said; _training hell_." Ray smiles a bit and nods at him.

----------

"Ray, you can't!" Tyson insisted against Ray's back as the brunet gathered the sleeping sheets that he used to lay on when he slept overnight at Tyson's. Ray's eyes close as he ignores the navy-haired boy's protests. Ray just didn't understand them; at first, they're all nagging on him to go after her and when he _does_ try to go after her, they're all trying to stop him.

The Chinese blader doesn't even bother turning around, "Tyson, you're the one who was harassing me to go after her, and now that I am, you want me to stay? I just don't get you, man…" Ray shakes his head in shame, "Besides, Kai said I could leave, so don't bother bringing up the whole practice thing…" _well, more like Kai threatened me to leave…_ he thought to himself.

"Oh, just let him go, Tyson…it's not like you've done anything like this before…" Hilary sighs, sitting on her knees beside Kenny, "Besides, he's in love; it's so cute!" Hilary clasps her hands together and her ruby eyes begin to sparkle happily.

Tyson gives her a dull look, just barely lifting a brow, "…Yuck…"

Hilary's eyes stop sparkling and she gets up, then sneaking behind Tyson, she slams a hand on the top of his head, "Baka!" she looks back at Ray while trying to shove Tyson's head into the floor with a wide grin, "Don't worry, Ray, we respect your decision!"

Kai rolls his eyes, "Don't suck up to him…"

"Oh…right…" Hilary chuckles uneasily, trying to fight against Tyson who now seems to be pushing back up until both of them end up being pushed to the floor. Kai scoffs once again. Seriously, these two either needed to admit they liked each other or just burn because this bicker and denial of feelings was getting on Kai's nerves. He was fine with Ray since he admitted it (to him, not to Mariam, but still) and Kenny… Kai was pretty sure Kenny had told the American blond who had offered to help get Emily to like Kenny.

Kai knew everything about every one of these people. Sometimes they would talk about something important while Kai was around and Kai, being so quiet, they would forget that he was there and he'd hear everything. It wasn't eavesdropping, really, since Kai had no intention of listening in the first place; they were just so damn loud. It wasn't Kai's fault if they spoke so loud that Kai could hear them. It was just overhearing. Yeah…

Ray let off a smile, turning to face them, "Well, see ya, guys." He began walking toward the door until Max runs in front of him, arms spread, blocking Ray from the door, "Whoa, Max, what's up?" Ray lifts a dark brow, confused at Max's sudden movement.

The blond glares with a firm look on his face; as if he wouldn't move for anything, "You can't go, Ray, trust me."

Ray just blinks in his confusion, then lightly tries pushing Max out of the way, "Max, I'm serious…I don't wanna lose again."

"And you don't think I'm serious? Ray, believe me; you shouldn't go."

"Why? So you can watch me mope around without her here? No thanks, but I feel too alone as it is, being without her just makes it worse." Ray shakes his head, glaring at the ground for a few seconds before looking back up at Max, "So just let me go, okay?"

Max shakes his head, firmly standing his ground, "Ray, you have no idea what you're about to go through…" Ray's overwhelmed by confusion at this point, not understanding what the blond was talking about. Ray prayed that Max didn't like Mariam too, because that would just feel all too weird to him.

"Max," Kai's voice was differently cold, "let him go." Hearing this, Max's eyes begin to quiver, losing the firmness they had only a few seconds ago. The quivering increases until Max breathes out a sigh, his arms lowering by his sides in defeat.

Ray silently thanks Kai for the second time, proceeding out the door without another word because Ray feels that he's already said everything that he wanted to say to them. Ray would just find her, tell her his feelings and see if there's a slight chance she might reciprocate them.

----------

"Madam, I need to know which flight a short boy with green hair, a girl with blue hair, a guy with red and black hair and a big guy with dirty blond hair took!" Ray slams his hands on the counter of the reception.

The woman stares at him for a long while, "I don't think you're required to know that information…"

Ray growls; this damn woman was _not_ going to stop him from getting to Mariam, "No, you don't understand! I'm with them! I just missed the flight." Ray notices it take a small affect on her, "Our father's going to get so mad at them if he finds out that they left me here! Especially my sister!" Ray really had no choice but to cough up some phony sob story and it helped that he could think fast.

The woman lifts a brow and tilts her head to the side to look at him, "Now that I think about it…you _do_ kinda look like that one girl." Ray grins, knowing that having a similar appearance to Mariam would come in handy, "Fine, they took the 265 one, okay? Can you stop crying?" (7)

Ray blinks happily up at her, "Okay." Ray sticks a hand into his pocket, to see if he has enough for a ticket, and he's _far_ from it, "Is there a train that goes to the same place?"

"You're in an _airport_…" she states dully, "But yeah, go to the --- excuse me, no cuts!" she starts yelling a boy who's standing behind Ray, then soon comes up beside the brunet.

"Kai?" Ray asks in disbelief as Kai steps beside him. Kai doesn't even bother to look at him and keeps a hard glare on the woman.

"Here…to pay for his ticket." The slate-haired boy says curtly, sliding her a large amount of money.

"Uh…okay…" she's obviously confused at this, but goes along.

Ray smiles as Kai begins to walk away, "Kai, wait!" the Russian turns his head back to Ray, "Thanks…" the brunet says calmly. Kai smiles slightly and turns to walk away again. Kai was just way to complex for Ray to understand…

----------

(8) Ray gets out of the airport and looks around at where he is, "Why does this place seem so oddly familiar?" he mutters to himself and wanders around a bit until he sees that indigo hair sticking out of the crowd of red, orange and gray clad people. His feet move towards her, unable to control himself. Once there, he smiles and gives a wave, about to talk when…

"Crap! It's you! What're you doing here!" Joseph screeches, jerking an accusing finger at Ray.

Mariam looks at her brother for a few seconds before looking back at Ray, "Are you here to challenge Joseph or something?"

Ray shakes his head, trying to keep a blush from showing, "No, I wanted to… wait, where're Ozuma and Dunga?"

Mariam sighs, "Those two wanted to rest in early. _Joseph_ here wanted to go see if we could get our blades fixed."

A look of confusion crosses Ray's face. _They broke? Oh yeah… Joseph and Max slammed into Mariam's blade at the same time, I got pissed and nearly killed Joseph's blade. Oops…violent me._ He smiles in realization until Joseph points a hard glare at him, "Yeah, smile while you can! I don't even know why you protected her anyways…"

Ray opens his mouth to speak, but Mariam cuts him off, "It was two on two. Obviously, Ray's not going to let you get away with hurting Sharkrash when he's an important part of our victory!"

Joseph's olive eyes roll, scoffing, "You only won because _Ray_ went psycho after we knocked you out and he murdered us…"

Mariam takes that into her head and turns to look at Ray, "Yeah, why _did_ you go psycho?"

Ray's eyes widen and his cheeks heat up lightly. Joseph was doing this on _purpose_! Tyson and the others were hard enough to deal with, but now _Joseph_! "Uh…" he rubs the back of his neck uneasily, "animal instinct?" he smiles, using the neko-jin in him as an excuse.

Both stare at him, "Makes sense…" Mariam shrugs. Joseph growls at his failed attempt to get Mariam to realize Ray's feelings so he could make fun of it later. Ray lets out a sigh of relief, "Okay, we're going to get our blades fixed now. It was…nice seeing you, Ray…" Mariam mutters, wondering on what to say so that she doesn't sound _too_ rude. She really had no idea why Ray had come all this way after them. Mariam flips her hair, like what Ray saw her do in his daydream. She turns to walk away with Joseph poking his tongue out at Ray as they are about to leave him in the streets by himself.

Mariam turns around last second, "You can come if you want…since I don't think you know anyone else here…" Ray felt his heart race at her offer and nods, going over with them. Joseph folds his arms angrily and purposely lingers behind Mariam and Ray.

"So, why're you here?" Mariam asks, not even looking at Ray. Truthfully, their homeland/village thing was quite familiar, like he'd seen all of this before…somewhere. When Ray doesn't respond, Mariam continues with her interrogation, "Does it have something to do with the group that's staying with us?"

"There's…a group staying with you?" Ray gulps slightly, his blush refusing to leave his face. Mariam nods silently, her gaze still staring far ahead. Ray looks over at her, "Do you know them?"

Mariam had lead them over to a stand and pushed her and Joseph's blades toward the owner and leaning her left elbow on the counter, she looks at Ray, "I don't think so…Ozuma said they were already at the village, but I didn't get to see them; Joseph rushed me out too fast…" her emerald eyes glare angrily at her brother who just rolls his eyes again. Ray smiles a bit at this as Mariam looks over at the stand owner, getting a receipt for the blades that they'd have to come back later for.

Mariam turns her head to look back at Ray. This action looked similar to how Ray saw Mariam turning her head in his dream and unknowingly, he stares, "Ray?" she leans over to look at him, obviously lost in Lala Land. It takes Ray a few seconds before gaining his senses back and he looks at her, "We're going now…" she holds up the receipt, and starts walking back, Joseph right behind her and Ray is forced to follow.

----------

Ray had another confused look cross his face when Mariam stopped them at a small grassy cliff with water beneath, "What're we doing here?" the brunet asks, looking over at Mariam who took a spot sitting on the edge of the cliff, letting her legs dangle over.

"I get bored easily…I just come here to feel better…" Mariam shrugs, lying in the grass. Joseph seems to have no problem and sits down a few inches from her. Ray just stands above them, looking around. If Joseph weren't here, Ray could've used this a good moment to tell her, or at least break the ice. Ray knew from experience that short people with green hair couldn't be trusted. At least not right away…

"I…see… and how long do you stay here?" Ray felt proud of himself. He was starting to form full sentences in her presence, to her. As long as he didn't mess this one up like he did with Salima, Ray would be fine.

Mariam looks up at him, "If you're bored, Ray, you could just say so… you don't have to stay here with me. Joseph can lead you back to where Ozuma is."

Joseph folded his arms, "Like hell I will…" Ray noticed that Joseph still had a grudge on him, which was quite typical. With every girl Ray shows the slightest interest in, there's always someone there to hate him for it. Well, Kane never really showed hate towards Ray, but at first, Ray did get a bad feeling around Kane. Maybe Ray was just doomed…

"Fine," Mariam got up, "then I'll take Ray back to Ozuma and _you_ can stay here, Joseph." She was easily ticked off, apparently. Ray never actually got close enough to know her…not like Max did… Ray scowls at the thought. Why did Max try to stop him from coming?

"Fine, whatever…" the younger boy rolls his eyes. Mariam mumbles things under her breath, with Ray catching little bits like 'I swear if Joseph keeps rolling his eyes, they'll roll right off…' and something about an infestation of little green-haired people.

Ray began to follow Mariam, although she was walking rather quickly, obviously disturbed by something. Ray couldn't bring himself to ask why, knowing that there was a possibility that it was personal and she wouldn't want to talk about it. Especially not to someone she barely even trusted. In the past, the most Ray and Mariam did was have that two on two battle. But there was a moment there that intrigued Ray. And at that time, he was relieved when Mariam didn't lash out at him for knocking Sharkrash while she was finishing her attack on Max.

"Mariam…?" Ray's voice flooded concern, concern that she didn't notice was there. She simply disregarded it and kept walking. After a few more attempts, Ray got her to talk…at least he got words out of her.

"Please, Kon, not now…" Mariam's tone was rather cold. Ray hadn't seen or heard such a tone used from anyone but Kai on his bad days. And it hurt Ray that Mariam had reduced to calling him by his surname, and his never ending blush had finally died, replaced with a pale tone. This proved it for Ray; she couldn't reciprocate his feelings…at least not like this. Though, Ray wasn't stopped from trying to gain her trust, since he felt that just being near her or being able to stare at her again could content him.

They were barely friends, almost strangers, and they barely had contact, yet he still fell for her. He knew it was selfish, but part of him wanted…more than that.

He _needed_ it… more than anything. The only question was could Ray get what he wanted, despite everything in the way?

----------

Okay, so how's that for a start? I'm sorry for all the little notes I stuck everywhere! And I'll say it now; in this Max doesn't have very strong feelings for Mariam (although I like the pairing) but the reason why Max was stopping Ray will be revealed, so don't get mad.

I know this beginning is a bit unorganized, but I'm just feeling a bit nervous about this one. So if you have like suggestions or comments or something, just tell me so I can feel better about this fic.

(1) – This description is actually based on a fan art of Mariam that I found, but really, words cannot describe the prettiness of this pic! (glomps pic) Only thing is that Mariam's hair is a faded blue in the pic, so I just edited that little part, but it's still a pretty picture!

(2) – If you guys have seen that Pokémon thing where Shuu flips his hair (or runs his hand through his hair) that I can't really describe, that's kind of what Mariam does. Haha, don't we all love Shuu? You don't? Well, I do! Yeah, he rocks…

(3) – My dad does this to me all the time, even when I'm just staring at the ceiling; he comes over, waves his hand in my face, then slaps my forehead. It gets very annoying…

(4) – Aw, don't we love this song? I do! From the album '10 Things I Hate About You' or something like that… meh, I still like that song!

(5) – Mariah admits she likes Ray during season one when they battle, right? 'Cause I haven't seen that since I was babysitting this eight-year-old who loves Beyblade and I had to watch the episodes with him and I remember Mariah kind of teary and she says something to Ray…then I heard the phone ring and I didn't see what happened after that…oops :P. But that kid broke my Beyblade! He also broke my ripcord thing! He wouldn't stop smashing it against the wall! (starts crying hysterically)

(6) - My friends are like this to me. They're so interested in who I like and they don't care about everyone else when they're doing the same thing; because _I_ don't say a word about it. I'm the shy one, which is why I'm doing this more from Ray's view.

(7) - I _really_ don't know where the Saint Shields homeland is. The number is just the last three numbers on the Mariam fan art that I like so much. (see 1st note)

(8) - Please don't make me write the whole getting ready for the flight, the flight itself and then the landing! It's very pointless!

Okay, how many references did you see? There were three so go see if you can find them! They're references to other animes and animated movies.

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**Preview of Next Chapter: **

She shifts around a bit, feeling something in her shadow, but she chooses not to make a reaction to it, pretending to innocently put on her headband, "What're you doing up so early?" Ray's voice comes up from behind her, startling her and her fingers slip on the band.

Mariam gives up, holding the red cloth in her hand, "I could ask you the same thing…" she replies simply, closing her eyes gently. Ray walks up beside her, smiling. Mariam looks at him, noticing how he looks; it's as if he just woke up and tied his hair together now, the end of his headband sticking out of his pocket.

Ray laughs slightly, "I guess I'm just so used to Kai waking me up this early…what about you?" he looks over at her, catching her staring at him. In that case, Mariam shakes her head and looks away again. Ray smiles as he could've sworn he saw a light blush with her widened eyes. Maybe he _was_ getting somewhere. Mariam's only reply was her shifting around nervously, "Anything you wanna talk about?" he peered over, trying to look into her eyes.

Mariam started blinking frantically, trying to think of something. She couldn't. She couldn't trust him…he didn't know her. And by this point, Mariam's head had started aching, causing her to bring a hand to it. Why was Ray even talking to her? She had been part of the reason why he lost Drigger. He should have _some_ kind of hate toward her, and by not getting upset, she figured that something must've been wrong with him.

Ray saw her bright jade orbs quivering, getting an idea of what was going on in her head. _She doesn't…trust people… people like me. _He was so close to her, but he couldn't tell her anything. A weird feeling shattered itself right through Ray's self, and it took him so much to keep from breaking down in front of her, "I see…" his head bows low and Mariam notices how broken apart his tone sounds and she can't help but feel partially responsible for it.

Like Ozuma said, she can't do anything right… She watches as Ray begins to walk away, but she notices that the headband had fallen out of his pocket. She stares at it through narrowed eyes for a while, "Ray?" she asks, turning around to face him.

Ray looks at her again, "Um…yeah?"

Mariam squats down, running her fingers through the grass until the headband fell into her hand. Clasping it, she picks it up, staring at it with a light smile, "You dropped your headband…" she offers it to him with her open hand, forgetting that her own headband is still clutched in her other hand.

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That's all for now! Review please so I can continue (faster).


	3. New Pieces

Okay, so the beginning was a bit rushed; I was nervous, all right? The views might change; taking Mariam's view instead of Ray's this time. Of course, everything that happened in the last chapter is in reference to this one.

Disclaimer: Previous… look at it.

Did anyone like the idea of the preview for the following chapter? Or…what?

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"Ray? What is he…?" Ozuma eyes the Chinese blader with a glare on his face, and then his gaze transfers over to Mariam who has the slightest smile on her face. Remembering how Ray was always staring at Mariam, Ozuma grins, "Oh, all right… you're just in time to meet the group staying with us!" and on cue, a group of four; three boys and a girl, step forward. Ray's eyes widened. This…was not…happening. _Lee! What the fuck is he doing here? And the whole gang! Why! _Ray wanted to scream and run as far as he could right now. The White Tigers would just make it harder to be with Mariam. Not to mention what Kai said about Mariah.

"Ray? What're you doing here?" Lee grins, looking at his former teammate. Ray growls, fist clenched. _I could ask you the same question…_ he was getting a huge headache.

Mariam looks back and forth at the new group and the brunet beside her. She could swear that the pink-haired one's eyes were sparkling brightly and Mariam follows her gaze, "Ray…" she scoffs lightly to herself Typical… But then, this guy who looked like a lion mixed with Ozuma said he knew Ray. _The girl could be a childhood friend…eh, what do I care? It's none of my business._ Mariam forces a smile, not wanting to make a bad first impression – until she looks at the green-haired boy beside the girl. Aw crap. Another Joseph…

"Yeah?" Ray turns his head to look at Mariam. A shocked look crosses her face and she looks at him, lifting a brow in confusion, "You said my name…" he points out, sensing her uncertainty. Ray's heart speeds up, hoping to get closer to gaining her trust, in any way… That's all he wanted. Mariam shakes her head at him.

"Nu-uh…" she says rather quietly, flipping the left side of her bangs again, "I said 'hey'…" she looks back toward the group who Ozuma had offered introductions to. Ray frowns inwardly; so much for that. He looks back at the White Tigers as they smile at Mariam.

Ozuma sighs, he _hated_ introductions, hence the Mister X alias, "Mariam, this is Lee, Mariah, Gary and Kevin…" he resists rolling his eyes. Introductions suck… why did their damn elders have to have the same beliefs as these people! Ozuma's eye was trying not to twitch at Gary. Not…another…Dunga. Too much rage was not good for Ozuma's system, forget handling it! Dunga was hard enough to keep in control, why must there be another? Ozuma was just lucky Dunga got sleepy and was in his room right now, or he would've screamed right there. _This…is…hell. Oh wait…listening to Tyson, Hilary and Kenny was probably worse. I didn't even know what they were talking about. _

Each member bowed as their names were said. Mariam seems to frown as Joseph came up beside her. And the first thing her brother did was gawk at Kevin. She knew there would be an infestation of short green-haired people. And for once, Joseph was speechless. Mariam rolls her eyes; he'd probably go on with another one of his 'My Hair Is Unique' rants he did whenever they roamed.

An eerie silence follows, Ray decides, since he knows both teams, he should break it, "Guys, you've already met Ozuma, this is Mariam…" he smiles at the sound of her name escaping him. Ray was turning into a sap, and he knew it, "and her brother Joseph…" he jerks a nod at the boy who Kevin blinks at.

Joseph goes up to Kevin, "So…how'd _your_ hair get green?" he sneers. Ozuma, Mariam, Ray and Lee roll their eyes at this as the two begin to bicker. Gary, he mysteriously vanished, but snoring was heard a few seconds later and they figured what happened.

"Good to see you again, Ray." Lee holds out a hand that Ray is forced to shake. Lee suddenly remembered why they were there; the whole joining-due-to-elders-having-the-same-beliefs thing… he saw Ozuma's glare and he looks back at Ray, "Gotta run…leaders' duty." Lee follows Ozuma into a nearby temple. Ray was left with the two girls…joy.

Mariah is the first to speak, "Nice to find you here, Ray…" she smiles, her hair bouncing a bit as she speaks. Ray smiles back, weakly.

Mariam's eyes look back and forth at them. _They'd probably want to reminisce about their childhood or something. I won't intervene; like I said, it's none of my business what the hell happened to them._ Her eyes close and she turns to walk away, almost like Kai does, Ray recognized.

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Crystalline jade eyes glare at the horizon, which she's only being prevented from going to by the edge of the cliff. She rather liked this cliff; only Joseph knew where it was and she could finally be alone. Her head stares down at her shoes, just on the edge until she stares back up again.

"This…sucks…" Mariam finally utters out, her hand brushing through the right side of her bangs, scoffing lightly. Stupid Ray and his little childhood friends. Dealing with Joseph, Ozuma and Dunga was horrible enough, but multiplying them by two? That was just bad. And Kon and his little girlfriend too? Mariam just couldn't stand it, "Stupid Ray…"

"What did I do now?"

Mariam's eyes widen in shock for a second until they go back to their emotionless state. She doesn't even bother turning around, keeping her glare on the view in front of her, "What're you doing here, Kon?" her voice was still low and cold.

Ray walks beside her, his hands finding their way into his pockets and he shrugs, "I noticed you were missing…" he says, staring at the horizon like Mariam was. She looks at him from the corner of her eyes, his golden orbs staring at the horizon she was a few seconds ago. She scoffs lightly to herself and glares back at the view, "Why'd you leave?" Ray's voice seemed slightly desperate and slightly offended. Had he done something wrong?

Mariam places her hand on her hip, "I just don't like crowds…" her eyes narrow to pale lime slits. Ray nods and lets out a soft humming sound of his understanding, "Why does it matter?" she asks in return, something in her head throbbing at her. So much for being alone in relaxation…

"It matters…to---" Ray stops himself from saying that it mattered to him. Mariam turns her head to look at him again with a questioning look on her face, "Uh… Ozuma."

Mariam stares at him, the questioning look still on her face, "Why would it matter to him?" Ray doesn't respond to that and Mariam sighs. Typical… that stupid big-shot Ozuma never gave reason as to why he did something. It really got annoying, "Where's Mariah?" Mariam smiles; although Mariah had pink hair, she could prove to be someone to help annoy the boys, and Mariam saw her affection towards Ray.

"She…" Ray stalls, his golden eyes darting around nervously, "wanted to watch Joseph and Kevin bicker over their hair colors…thought it'd be fun…" it wasn't really a lie… Ray convinced Mariah to stop their fight before it got too big, telling her that he had 'something important to attend to' as an excuse to go find Mariam.

"Sounds pointless…" Mariam's arms fold, sneering. Though she didn't really know Kevin, Mariam figured him to be Joseph double, which was hell in itself. Trying to forget everything, Mariam closes her eyes, to take in the air around her, though she knew that coming here only fed the emptiness inside. Suddenly remembering that Ray was standing beside her, Mariam's eyes shot open, and the empty feeling inside died a bit. It felt different…

"Do you wanna go back now…?" Ray suggests with a smile, looking at her. Mariam's eyes look at him in shock. Did he…not order her to do something? She smiles a bit. Everyone always ordered her around and she barely had a say in anything. Why was he showing her sympathy? Did he want something in return? These questions hurt Mariam's head until she nods at the brunet. Ray smiles slightly wider, "Come on…" he puts a hand on her shoulder, making her look at him oddly.

Mariam's feet start moving, following Ray back to the site where the others were. Mariah's sitting cross-legged, her elbow resting on her thigh, only to prop her chin from falling from boredom, watching the two green-haired boys in front of her. Mariam smirks, "I knew watching those two idiots was pointless…" she sighs at Ray who offers a small chuckle at her.

Mariah's head perks up at the sight of Ray returning and offers a small frown at Mariam who's walking beside the brunet until they get up to her, "Hi Ray…Mariam." She smiles, scrunching her nose ever so lightly at mentioning the girl's name. Mariam notices but disregards it.

A weird silence follows. The sound of something glass crashing breaks it, "Oops… Ray, you didn't need this, did you?" Joseph and Kevin's voices yell from a nearby temple. Apparently, the two green demons had gotten away during the silence and were now tampering with Ray's only things. His eyes widen.

"Hehe…" he turns away from the girls to yell at the duo, "I swear, if you break Drigger, I'll break _both_ your heads!" he runs off toward the sound of the crashing.

Mariam and Mariah exchange looks, "Kevin got a grudge against Ray too?" Mariam asks, at her attempt to start conversation. Mariam wanted to get along with this girl… at least enough to send the boys to hell.

Mariah, being as bored as she was watching the two younger boys, barely nods, "Yeh…Joseph got one too?" the pink-haired girl gets up, dusting off her pants. Mariam nods. She _knew_ their teams were too closely similar to be normal! She even noticed how Mariah's hair was quite similar to her own, with two long bangs on either side to frame her face and her long hair done in a ponytail high on her head. Now that Mariam thought about it, their _shoes_ were pretty much the same. She was going to _kill_ Ozuma for…something, but he was just going to get it!

Mariam studied the girl for a short while. She wondered why Ray _didn't_ like Mariah. She seemed nice, by what happened so far, and Mariah liked Ray a lot. What was stopping him from being with her? Despite all the pink? If Mariah was wearing varieties of colors, then maybe Ray'd like her better? They had Mariam's approval…not that it would matter to him, but sure… _As long as they don't keep hanging around here…_ Mariam sighs.

"You like Ray…don't you?" Mariam asks, giving the neko-jin girl a smile which she didn't even know she could do. Mariah blushes lightly and Mariam smirks, knowing the answer…like she didn't know it already. Before Mariah can say anything further, Mariam cuts her off, "I think Ray'd like you too…if you maybe lost most of the pink."

Mariah didn't know whether to take that as an insult or a compliment, "So you don't like him?"

Mariam scoffs, which brings up Mariah's frown, "Why? I barely know the guy. Even if I did, I don't…trust him."

"Just like everyone else I know…" the pink haired girl sighs. Mariam lifts a brow, "He left our team a while ago. Lee dubbed it 'betraying' us and we didn't trust him. Well, they didn't…I still did." Mariah remembered that very well and how it had hurt her, "Guys can be such idiots…" the words escaped her lips before she realized it, making Mariam's head turn back at her as she'd been staring at a figure in the distance that looked oddly familiar.

"Tell me about it…" emerald orbs roll in agreement. Ozuma, Joseph and Dunga were huge pains, and being the only girl within them was pure hell. Though, it did give her time to herself, where she thought about if there were things worse than this. She just wanted to be alone to relax without guys nagging at her for no reason. By the looks of it, Mariah was a believer in the…'girl power' which Mariam thought to be a bit cliché or overrated at times.

"So…friends?" Mariah offers, holding out a hand that Mariam looks at for a while, unsure if she should accept it. Why was she forced to be close to people who she barely trusted? No one had had fully gained her trust, besides the other Saint Shields, even if she didn't show it. She knew they'd protect her, but that was probably only because of their oath things they swore to the elders. Nevertheless, she knew they'd protect her. The only person, besides Joseph, that came even _close_ was Kai. She supposed it was because he, in ways, was similar to her. She knew Kai probably had the same view about the world that she did. He'd be the closest person to understand what she's about.

Mariam decides not to accept the handshake but smiles instead, "It's close enough…" she folds her arms, still smiling at her. Mariah seems to be shocked at this, but smiles anyways and withdraws her hand, nodding.

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Ray sighs in relief, having tied both Joseph and Kevin with rope and shoved them in a closet. _Shit!_ He just remembers that he left Mariam…alone with Mariah. Mariah could've ripped Mariam to shreds by now! Mariah probably saw the little hints that would've lead to Ray's liking of the Saint Shields girl. He races back out, in time to see Mariam and Mariah…getting along and sitting near the river side. Maybe Mariah didn't like him as much as he thought…which was a relieving thought seeing as he was free to like Mariam then.

"I see at least you guys are getting along." Ray smiles, startling them as they turn to face him with confused looks on their faces, "I had to tie Joseph and Kevin up in the closet…"

Mariam scoffs, turning back to look at the water, "Then, either, they'll be beating each other up, verbally, possibly, or making out…" she said tonelessly. At the moment, she was really starting to remind Ray of Kai, which Ray didn't understand.

Mariah and Ray shoot her an odd look, which she glances at for a second and looks away, "Just because it sounds crazy, doesn't make it any less true; it is a possibility." She points out with a sigh, "Great, if that happens, I'll have to see that little Joseph look-alike who's apparently named Kevin…" she mumbles, not knowing that's she's saying that aloud.

"_Apparently _named Kevin?" Mariah asks, looking at her. Ray seems to agree with Mariah on this one. His name really was Kevin…what was Mariam talking about?

Mariam looks at Mariah, "Well, what proof do you have that tells me that's his real name? It could be something like Kiki for all I know…"

Ray smiles, and for some reason, the movie with the girl witch named Kiki comes to mind. Awkward… Ray still didn't know how he was supposed to get close to Mariam with Mariah always in the way. This wasn't going well at all.

"Mariah!" Mariah flinches at the voice, "It's time we all go to sleep now!" Lee's voice roars from the temple. Mariam turns and sees Ozuma walking out of the temple with a hand over his ear. She kinda felt sorry for Ozuma. Dealing with that loud voice for so long must've been hard, especially since he didn't _want_ to; it was all the elders fault. He probably had a headache, but was it any of her business? Well, sure, he was her teammate, not to mention, her leader…

Mariah turns to yell at her brother, "Lee! I'm old enough to chose when I sleep!"

"No you're not!" Lee's voice yells back, yet it's slightly playful. Mariah leads Mariam and Ray over to him, only to have Mariah yell at him some more but he cuts her off, "Fine, but you're rooming with Mariam. I don't trust these…people…" Mariam lifts a brow at him, offended by this, although she doesn't trust _him_ at all.

Mariah had the _biggest_ temptation to throw something at Lee at the moment, but she couldn't find anything hard enough to crack his head so she could rearrange his brain, "Where're you rooming then?"

"With Ozuma and Ray…" the elder sibling replies curtly and smugly. Mariam sighs. This was just great. Her with Mariah, Dunga with Gary, Joseph with Kevin and now…Lee with Ozuma. Ray was just there because… he didn't tell her yet, but he _will_. Surely, no one comes so many miles just to say hi. Mariam _was_ the first person that Ray went up to when he got here. Maybe he was just trying to finish what he was saying to her at the airport. Who struggles with telling someone that they'll miss them? Apparently Ray.

Ray tilts back at this. He was stuck with the two people with the biggest and shortest tempers, loudest voices and…um, scary hair…oh, and their eyebrows were probably scarier… Ray could've slapped himself right there for thinking that. No one would have to know about that… Still, he follows Lee and Ozuma to one temple, tossing Mariah a pair of keys. Said girl stares at them, and then turns to smile at Mariam, dangling the metal objects between her thumb and index fingers.

"Let's just go…" Mariam sighs, going to the temple that used to be hers and only hers, which she now had to share with Kon's little girlfriend. And by what Mariah told her at the river, Lee ordered his team up in the morning to train with blades. Ozuma was very much against that. He preferred…physical training way early in the morning. Mariam would have so much fun watching the two yell. Really, the only pairs that seemed to get along was her and Mariah and Dunga and Gary, but they hadn't said a word to each other and feel asleep before making conversation.

Mariah nods at the girl, following her. Sure, Mariam seemed nice enough, but she also seemed rather distant from everyone. She said she didn't trust Ray, probably also meaning that she didn't trust anyone else for that matter. If these guys she'd been living with until this point had been making Mariam distant, they'd get what's coming to them from Mariah. She really wanted to stay on Mariam's good side because staying in a world full of guys was hell without another girl to stick around with you.

Mariam tosses the receipt for her and Joseph's blade on the table beside her bed and turns to face Mariah, "Take whichever bunk you want; I don't mind. Just please tell me that you're not a sleepwalker." Mariam gestures to the neat room which probably took a while to organize. The possibility that Mariah sleepwalks could cause her to stumble and ruin everything, "Washroom's over there if you want to change or something."

Mariah nods, setting her blading equipment on a separate table, grabbing her sleeping attire and going to the washroom. Mariam rolls her eyes, getting another set of her Saint Shields uniform, wondering why Ozuma gave them more than one. She quickly replaces the outfits and begins untying her hair, setting the band on the table, along with her wristbands, headband and the band on her left upper arm. Stupid Kon. This was all his fault. His friends probably knew he was coming here and followed him. Mariam sighs, flipping her hair again.

A knock on the door took Mariam's attention as she went over to it, "_What_?" she asks harshly and annoyed, "Kon, do you have some fascination with taking me away from my thoughts, or…what?" she glares at Ray standing at the door with a hopeful look on his face at first, but it rearranges into a nervous one.

Ray hadn't realized it to begin with, but he started staring at her again. Mariam still looked pretty much the same; still amazing, still captivating and still all he wanted to see. There was a difference this time though; her hair was down, and Ray had to admit, in some ways, it was like his own. Her dark violet hair fell over her back like a long, elegant veil of blue and her bangs were still in the same position as they were when she wore the hair tie. The light was still reflecting on the small curls of her hair. Ray admitted; she looked better now than in her daydream and than anything else he's seen. He rather liked her with her hair down. Mariam lifts a brow at him.

"Well?" she asks, misunderstanding Ray's silence. He came here for something other than to stare, right? Why _was_ he staring anyways? Comparing her to Mariah? Tche, Mariam didn't want to be compared like that.

Ray clears his throat, "Ozuma got into a fight with Lee about how you guys practice in the morning; either with blades or physical training…" his voice trails off, never hearing such loud voices bicker over something like that, "and um…"

Mariam's face turns into one of confusion, "And let me guess…you want to bunk here?" Mariam starts closing the door on him, but Ray sticks a foot to prevent the door from closing on him, "Pervert…" she mutters at him, which gets her a small blush and a wide-eyed expression from Ray. She still strains to close the door on him.

"No, I wasn't going to ask to bunk here, first of all, and second…do you have earplugs?" Ray manages to get out. Mariam's eyes widen at the question and she stops her attempt in closing the door, "And thirdly…I didn't mean to take you away from your thoughts, Mariam…" his voice sounded sympathetic and Mariam realized he really meant it as he bows his head at her. When he brings his head back up, Mariam's eyes shine at him, for some unknown reason.

Mariam flips her hair yet again, "Here's your earplugs…" she handed him a new packet of earplugs which she got from the side table next to the door, "I was joking when I said you wanted to bunk here and…thanks."

Ray didn't look away from her when he took the earplugs from her and the two remained in silence until a voice rose up, "Mariam! How do you work this thing?" Mariam's head turns back to see Mariah struggling with something and she looks back at Ray.

"Kon, your little girlfriend is going to kill me…" she sighs closing the door on him, leaving Ray staring in awe. Great…Mariam thought that Mariah was his girlfriend. Maybe it was because he was such a coward, not standing up for himself and the people that mattered to him.

"Wait!" he uses his hand to push the door back open and Mariam looks at him with more question, "Why've you reduced to calling me by my surname?" he looks at her, golden orbs quivering in fear. Fear that he'd done something wrong to hurt her or make her think that he was nothing more than just another guy or just another jerk.

Mariam smirks at him, "You can call me by my surname if you want, then." Her head tilts to the side, still smirking at him, "If that'll make you feel better."

"Well, first, I don't know your surname," Mariam smirks wider at this and Ray continues, "And even if I did, I wouldn't want to call you that anyways…" Mariam's smirk vanishes as he says that, turning into a slightly surprised look. Maybe Mariam was right; Ray had more respect for her than these other jerks.

"Hmm…all right then, _Ray_, but Mariah's still screaming for help…" she turns her attention back to where Mariah's still fighting something, and then she looks back at Ray with a content smile and Ray flushes at it. He knew he had it bad for her, even though they were barely friends and barely anything to each other. Mariam closes the door and Ray decides he should leave.

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"All right, Mariah, what's wrong?" Mariam asks with her hands placed on her hips angrily, "Please don't tell me you broke something…" the emerald-eyed girl pleads. Mariah points a finger at the launcher Mariam uses more of the time, seeing as it was different from her own.

"It ate Galux!" Mariah complains, balling her fists. Mariam rolls her eyes.

"It doesn't _eat_ anything, Mariah, it's a launcher…" Mariam holds it up for her to look at but Mariah slaps it away, "But I guess we don't have to worry about that…" she sighs, "Here's your…Galux…" she hands the blade to its owner in which said owner had no clue what happened to it.

Mariam smiles, stowing Galux somewhere safe. Mariam notices that even down, their hair is still similar, but Mariam brushes it aside and climbs into her bed. Mariah does the same, sighing and turning the lights off.

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"_Mariam! Why can't you do anything right?"_

"_Why are you giving in like that?"_

"_What is wrong with you?"_

Mariam's eyes clasp tightly shut, tossing and turning until the point where she shoots up in her place, panting for air. Emerald eyes look around nervously, seeing only her possessions and Mariah in the other bed, peacefully asleep. She brings a hand to wipe her forehead, "I need a walk…" and grabbing her headband and hair tie, she silently goes out to the cliff where she named her own. Over the peak of the horizon, she saw the faintest hint of the sun coming up and she begins to tie her hair back up.

She shifts around a bit, feeling something in her shadow, but she chooses not to make a reaction to it, pretending to innocently put on her headband, "What're you doing up so early?" Ray's voice comes up from behind her, startling her and her fingers slip on the band.

Mariam gives up, holding the red cloth in her hand, "I could ask you the same thing…" she replies simply, closing her eyes gently. Ray walks up beside her, smiling. Mariam looks at him, noticing how he looks; it's as if he just woke up and tied his hair together now, the end of his headband sticking out of his pocket.

Ray laughs slightly, "I guess I'm just so used to Kai waking me up this early…what about you?" he looks over at her, catching her staring at him. In that case, Mariam shakes her head and looks away again. Ray smiles as he could've sworn he saw a light blush with her widened eyes. Maybe he _was_ getting somewhere. Mariam's only reply was that her shifting around nervously, "Anything you wanna talk about?" he peered over, trying to look into her eyes.

Mariam started blinking frantically, trying to think of something. She couldn't. She couldn't trust him…he didn't know her. And by this point, Mariam's head had started aching, causing her to bring a hand to it. Why was Ray even talking to her? She had been part of the reason why he lost Drigger. He should have _some_ kind of hate toward her, and by not getting upset, she figured that something must've been wrong with him.

Ray saw her bright jade orbs quivering, getting an idea of what was going on in her head. _She doesn't…trust people… people like me. _He was so close to her, but he couldn't tell her anything. A weird feeling shattered itself right through Ray's self, and it took him so much to keep from breaking down in front of her, "I see…" his head bows low and Mariam notices how broken apart his tone sounds and she can't help but feel partially responsible for it.

Like Ozuma said, she can't do anything right… She watches as Ray begins to walk away, but she notices that the headband had fallen out of his pocket. She stares at it through narrowed eyes for a while, "Ray?" she asks, turning around to face him.

Ray looks at her again, "Um…yeah?"

Mariam squats down, running her fingers through the grass until the headband fell into her hand. Clasping it, she picks it up, staring at it with a light smile, "You dropped your headband…" she offers it to him with her open hand, forgetting that her own headband is still clutched in her other hand.

Ray's eyes open in shock, his cheeks taking on a light scarlet. He stares at her bright emerald eyes, seeing that he didn't have his headband on. Mariam smiles; he probably forgot that he wasn't wearing it when he woke up; it _was_ in his pocket after all, "Thanks…Mariam."

Mariam studied his voice; no signs of hate or sarcasm. He was being kind… Mariam watches as Ray takes the red object from her, his hand brushing hers and Mariam smiles while Ray blushes some more, "You um…" she stutters, feeling too nervous to look at his eyes. She takes a light bite into her lower lip, her smile becoming tense. Why was she feeling like this? She blinks a couple of times and her face appears normal again, flipping the side of her bangs.

"What?" Ray asks, looking from the headband to her eyes. Was it him or did this all seem _very, very_ familiar? Mariam stares at him for a while, watching how, like her, without the headband, his bangs fall into his eyes. She held off on giggling at it, since she went through the same thing so many times… like when she gave her headband to Max. Not knowing why, Mariam reached over, as Ray was brushing the right side away, and brushed the left side away from his eyes.

"You don't look half bad…" she smiles again. She watches Ray blush. She would've figured, that with Mariah and all, surely Ray had been in closer contact with a girl before. He was acting like this was the first time… Mariam withdraws her hand, suddenly remembering what she was doing. Ray stares at her and places his headband back on his head.

"You mean that's it?" he asks, trying to smile convincingly, "No crude comment? No insult? No…trick?" Ray smiles in relief, not wanting to ask 'no but' or it'd sound weird.

Mariam places her hands on her hips. One of the _only_ times she was going to be nice and he thinks that she can't do it without poking jokes. Just because she had the sharpest tongue, didn't mean she couldn't be nice when she wanted to, "Why, do you _want_ me to insult you?" so much for being nice to him for once.

Ray's eyes widen as he starts waving his hands in front of him, "No, it's not that…it's just…"

"Ray?"

Both Ray and Mariam turn and see Lee staring at them from a distance. And he doesn't look too happy. Ray looks back at Mariam who seems quite confused but she begins to put her own headband back on, smiling at Ray. Ray was confused; why was she so happy? Lee just came in and… well, it's not like he and Mariam were having a 'moment' but Lee just ruined…whatever was going on.

"Uh-oh…" Ray mutters. Surely Lee knew that Mariah liked Ray. And seeing your baby sister's crush alone with another girl could've been just too weird a scene. Mariam was peering over Ray's shoulder, trying to see what made Ray feel so uncomfortable all of a sudden.

"What's wrong?" she looks at Lee, or the 'guy that looked like Ozuma mixed with a lion' as she first called him. Lee made their way over to them, Ray with an exasperated face and Mariam with an almost false cheery one, "Oh, Ozuma's lion double… what's he want?" accidentally, Mariam scowls a bit at the end.

Ray smiles at the nickname Mariam gave to Lee, but it fades as Lee gets closer, "Don't call him that…" Ray hisses lightly. Mariam just smiles, turning so that Ray could only see the left side of her face, "Hey Lee…what's up?" Ray asks, pretending that Mariam wasn't there, although it was against everything in his whole self.

Lee eyes the Saint Shields girl angrily for a while before looking back at Ray, "Nothing…girlie, can me and Ray talk in private?" he snarls at Mariam. Mariam scoffs and flips her hair carelessly, walking away, mumbling things under her breath. That's it! She was going to complain to Ozuma about that stupid lion wannabe.

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"What!" Mariam's hands slam on the table near Ozuma. He looks at the table with a lifted brow, and then transfers his gaze to her eyes, "Whatdya mean you can't get rid of them?" Mariam was reaching a breaking point; _someone_ was going to be punished for this.

Ozuma gives her a harsh look, "The elders say that joining with this team would help their beliefs. _We_ represent their beliefs, and we'll carry out this mission, whether we like it or not; that's the way it works, Mariam." He says firmly, glaring at her, "Besides, you and Mariah seem to be getting along…"

"Sure, but I don't see Joseph and Kevin getting along! I don't even wanna _know_ what Dunga and Gary are up to and you…your ears could break off right now because of Lee!" Mariam's hands had begun slamming on the table over and over again.

Ozuma rolls his eyes, sighing lowly, "Fine, what did they do to you that made you so mad?" his arms fold, glaring as hard as she was angry.

Mariam tilts back, her hands going back to her sides and a light blush graces her cheeks, "Lee um…" Ozuma's brows furrow in amusement and light confusion, smirking at her nevertheless. Mariam's struggling to find what she's trying to say; all Lee really did was bother her conversation with Ray, and Mariam knew that wasn't a good enough excuse to get rid of them, "Never mind… forget I said anything…" she storms out of the room angrily.

Ozuma smirks after her.

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Mariam was sitting around the riverside she and Mariah were the evening before, staring at the small boat that she and the other Saint Shields made long ago. Really, they'd built it big enough for three people since Joseph was scared to go in the water at the time. But occasionally, Mariam stole the boat for herself while the boys weren't looking so she could finally be alone. She had taken this time to take her wristbands and other things from the room and she sighs at the water.

"I didn't even notice you were gone…" Mariam stares in the water, seeing a pink reflection beside her own. Mariah… "Did I do something wrong?"

Mariam shakes her head as Mariah sat beside her, "Nah, I just had a bad dream, that's all…I woke up early, walked around…" Mariam was looking into the eyes of Mariah's reflection which was looking back at her, "Your brother is as annoying as hell…"

Mariah smirks, "You realized, huh?" Mariam nods, "What'd he do _this_ time?"

"Ruined conversation…"

Mariah nods, "With whom?" her golden eyes were quivering in the reflection and Mariam bet they were quivering even more out of the reflection. What was Mariam supposed to say? "Hello? Mariam?" the pink haired neko-jin turns her head towards the blue-haired girl.

"Ray…" Mariam replies carelessly, scrunching her nose ever so slightly while doing so. Mariah, to Mariam's surprise is quite calm at this, possibly because of the indigo-haired girl's admittance of not having any feelings for said brunet, "Jerk…" she mutters under her breath which Mariah catches but smiles.

"Nice boat…"

"Thanks…" Mariam says in a low tone, "You wanna ride it? It's built for three…" Mariah sends her a curious look at that, but Mariam answers before she can ask, "Joseph didn't want to come with us at the time."

Mariah nods, smiling, "All right, but who'd come with a pair of girls?"

And as if on cue, Ray's reflection appears behind theirs with a curious look on his face, "So that's where you went, Mariam." He smiles lightly at her, "What're you talking about?"

Mariah stands up and Mariam follows the example, "You wanna ride on the boat with us, Ray?" Mariah asks cheerfully. Ray's eyes look back and forth between them and nods, "Won't this be fun!"

Mariam forces a smile, trying not to look at Ray, "Actually…you guys go ahead…" the Saint Shields girl starts to walk away, stowing her hands in her pockets, "I…need to do something…" she bites on the bottom of her lip in fear.

"You sure?" Mariah asks towards Mariam's back. Not turning back, Mariam nods, walking back over to the temples, "But Mariam…!" Mariah objects, trying to convince her new acquaintance to go with them. She didn't want Mariam to think that Ray was more important than being friends, of course.

Mariam turns around again, "I'm sure! You guys go ahead; have a nice time, but I'm not in the mood for going…" she smirks at them, "See ya…" she flips her hair and does a small salute to Mariah. Ray is left staring at Mariam's departing figure, then being dragged into the boat with Mariah. Mariam watches from the roof of her temple.

Her chin falls in her hands, being held up by her elbows, propped by her thighs. _They look like they're having fun. At least some people are…_

_I wonder how Kai is doing…_

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There; no more little notes in this chapter; so far… There's still references in there. I know; the scenes kinda ran a bit fast…

You got some Ray/Mariam interaction in there, plus Ray sees his daydream come true! I swear, don't the Saint Shields and the White Tigers seem similar to each other! Joseph and Kevin; I love those two little guys! Mariam did say in the last chapter (under her breath; Ray heard it) that there would be an infestation of little green-haired people. And if anyone notices the pattern in Mariam's new habit…that's very good to the story.

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**Preview Bits of Next Chapter:**

Max's sapphire eyes roll, "Kai, Mariam wants to know if you can come over…" he yells to the slate-haired boy outside who was forced to clean up the ashes he made with burning the shirt, "…soon…"

Kai sighs, "For what? Tea and cookies?" he scoffs and Max turns back to the phone, repeating Kai's answer to Mariam. Tyson's grandfather was one weird man, Kai knew that… but why did the ashes matter?

"Kai! Mariam says to cut the crap and it's about Ray." Max yells again. Kai growls, "Oh, and she says that…um…" Max becomes confused in the sounds he's hearing on the other line.

"_Ray! What're you…?_" Mariam's voice asks, shocked. A sharp sound was heard and then a few seconds of silence.

"_-She'll call you back!-_" a weird angrier version of Ray's voice snaps quite loudly into the phone. Max blinks at the dial tone staring at the object as it dangles in his fingers.

"Mariam says what?" Kai asks, annoyed again at Max's silence, "Is this some stupid version of Simon Says, Max? Because if it is, you're gonna regret it."

"Kai, I think Ray's lost it…"

Kai lets out a low growl, grabbing the phone from Max.

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"So who is it?" Mariam demands, glaring hard. Ray lets out another sigh of defeat, staring at the ground until he looks back at her. He was going to tell her, here and now. But, Ray knew that he could let her know without saying a word. Subconsciously, he leans into her. Mariam's eyes widen at him as he moves closer until he was close enough to…

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Ray sighs, "Why is it that you keep talking about Mariah around me?" he asks, forcing out a chuckle to lighten things up, but it was a failed attempt.

"Because she really does like you, Ray." Mariam sighs again, "Why is that so hard for you to understand?" Ray had obviously taken too long to answer as Mariam seemed to lose it, "She –_loves_- you, dammit! So fall in love with her!"

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Sitting up, Mariam brings her knees to her chest again, "Mariah really likes you…you know that?" she says sincerely to Ray, keeping her face filled with concern for her new acquaintance.

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Ray tilts back at this, "Mariam, I…" he falls into silence again, hanging his head. Mariam turns to look at him, trying to calm herself down, "It's…not that I don't like Mariah, it's just that I…"

"What?" Mariam snaps at him.

"I like someone else…" Ray admits, trying to smile, "…more."

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Please review now! (Now, if you want, in the next chapter, you can choose which pairing you want as the ending and yes, Ray/Mariah is one of the options...otherwise, it'll end as Ray/Mariam)


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